Mumbai, Nov 22 (IANS): Maharashtra's Covid-19 deaths dropped below 100 for the second time, though new cases continued to increase, amid apprehensions of a second wave, health authorities said here on Sunday.

After days of three-digit figures, the state deaths dropped to 50, taking the fatalities to 46,623 now. Previously, the state had reported 51 fatalities on May 18.

Shooting above the 5,000 mark for the fifth day, the state recorded 5,753 new infections, taking its tally to 17,80,208.

For the second day in a row, 28 of the state's 36 districts recorded zero fatalities, including hotspots like Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Aurangabad, Akola, Latur, Solapur, Kolhapur, and Ratnagiri.

Also, for the second day after over a week, the state recovery rate dropped marginally, from 92.82 percent to 92.75 percent - while the mortality rate remained stable at 2.62 per cent.

Another chunk of 4,060 fully recovered patients returned home - taking the total to 16,51,064, against the 81,512 active cases.

Of the latest deaths, Mumbai led the state with 19, while there were 12 in Nagpur, 11 in Pune, five in Satara, two in Yavatmal and one in Nanded.

Mumbai, which remained in the sub-50 range for the 21st day this month, saw its toll rise to 10,675 now, while after remaining below the 1,000 mark for a week, the city saw 1,135 cases, taking up the total to 275,714.

Mumbai circle (MMR) recorded 19 new deaths pushing up the toll to 18,504 and with another spike of 1,975 new infectees, the total cases rose to 617,474 now.

Pune circle remained in the double-digit level with 16 fatalities, and the death toll rose to 16,509, while and the daily infections increased by 1,299 to 445,833.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine decreased to 515,976, while the number of those in institutional quarantine shot up to 5,615.